Receptacle encircling band



March 31, 1964 H. s. MEYERS RECEPTACLE ENCIRCLING BAND Filed July 16, 1962 INVENTOR HAROLD 5. MfVERS BYQ WBW.

ATTORNEY United States Patent M 3,126,660 RECEPTACLE ENCIRCLING BAND Harold S. Meyers, Minneapolis, Minn., assignor to Waldorf Paper Products Company, St. Paul, Minn., a corporation of Minnesota Filed July 16, 1962, Ser. No. 210,063 8 Claims. (Cl. 40-312) This invention relates to an improvement in receptacle encircling band and deals particularly with a means for holding such a band in proper relation to the receptacle. Many products are packaged in pans in which the product may be cooked or heated. In some instances, these pans are circular in form and include upwardly tapering walls. The upper edges of the side walls are provided with an outwardly projecting flange or ledge which terminate in an upwardly extending rim which may be reversely bent to provide a smooth upper edge. A disk of plastic or paperboard is frictionally engaged within this rim to enclose the product.

Where the removable cover is made of paperboard, this surface may be used for identifying the product, giving serving directions, and similar essential information. However, in some instances it is desirable to make a portion of the cover transparent so that the product can be viewed. When this is done, the space provided for the label is very materially reduced, and in some instances is actually inadequate. As a result, it has been proposed to add a band or sleeve of paperboard encircling the receptacle and which may be printed to form the receptacle label. Due to the circular form of the receptacle and the tapered shape of the walls, difliculty has been experienced in properly attaching the band to the receptacle in a manner so that it will remain locked in place until manually removed, but which may be removed with comparative ease. It is an object of the present invention to produce a receptacle encircling band which may be easily applied to the receptacle and which will remain locked in place until it is removed.

A feature of the present invention resides in the provision of a band which may be glued to form a sleeve and which includes a pair of tabs which are preferably connected thereto along opposite edges thereof. When the receptacle is slipped into the band, the two tabs are folded to underlie the portion of the band which will overlie the receptacle cover. These tabs are shaped to engage rearwardly of the rim of the receptacle, the cover being normally recessed below the level of the rim. These tabs hold the band from being disengaged from the receptacle once the band is in proper position.

A further feature of the present invention resides in the fact that the tabs or ears are foldably connected to the band along lines of fold which extend more than half of the width of the band portion overlying the receptacle. As a result, the upper portion of the band is effectively reinforced, and may be used to lift the receptacle if desired. At the same time, the tabs are preferably so shaped that adjoining bands may dovetail together on the cutting die so as to reduce the paperboard necessary to form the bands.

These and other objects and novel features of the present invention will be more clearly and fully set forth in the following specification and claims.

In the drawings forming a part of the specification:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of the receptacle having the band in place thereupon.

FIGURE 2 is a vertical sectional view through the structure shown in FIGURE 1, the position of the section being indicated by the lines 22 of FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 3 is a top plan view of the receptacle and the encircling band in position thereupon.

3,126,660 Patented Mar. 31, 1964 FIGURE 4 is a diagrammatic view of the blank from which the band is formed.

The band is indicated in general by the letter A, and is designed to encircle the receptacle which is indicated in general by the letter B. The receptacle B is a circular pan shaped receptacle having a bottom panel which is not illustrated in the drawings and upwardly and outwardly tapering side walls 10. As is indicated in FIGURE 2 of the drawings, the side walls 10 are provided with an outwardly turned ledge or flange 11 extending on a common plane parallel to the base panel, and a generally cylindrical flange 12 is provided at the outer periphery of the ledge 11. A thin transparent disk 13 rests upon the ledge 11, and is held in place by a metal ring 14 which reinforces the upper edge of the flange 12. The ring 14 comprises a channel shaped body which acts to enclose a portion of the upper edge of the flange 12, and also preferably includes a ring-shaped inwardly extending flange 15 which clamps against the marginal edge of the cover disk 13 to hold the same in place. As a result, the cover 13 is recessed below the upper edge of the ring-shaped member 14.

The band A is produced in the manner illustrated in FIGURE 4 of the drawings. This band comprises an elongated strip of paperboard or similar material which is transversely creased to provide a central panel 16 which is connected along parallel fold lines 17 to side wall panels 19. A series of parallel score lines 20 divide the strip into relatively narrow Wall portions 21 to permit the band to bend around the under surface of the receptacle. These spaced fold lines 20 also serve the purpose of permitting the band to fold flat in spite of the fact that the bottom of the receptacle is of considerably less diameter than the top thereof.

The ends 22 and 23 of the band are of suificient length to overlap so that the distance between the outermost fold lines 20 at opposite ends of the band and are substantially equally spaced to the diameter of the bottom of the receptacle B. When the band is glued in flat form, the band is folded along one innermost fold line 20 and one outermost fold line 20 at the opposite end of the band so that the top and bottom portions of the band are in contact.

A pair of tabs 24 and 25 are foldably connected to opposite edges of the center panel 16 along fold lines 26. In preferred form, these tabs 24 and 25 extend slightly beyond the top panel center line which is indicated by the broken line 29. The edges 30 and 31 which intersect the center line 29 preferably extend at an acute to the fold lines 26 and 27 respectively so that the tabs 24 and 25 may dovetail together when cutting out the bands from a sheet of paperboard.

The length of the tabs 24 and 25 normally does not exceed the width of the remainder of the strip. The edges 32 and 33 of the tabs which are opposite the angled edges 30 and 31 are arcuate, and of substantially the same radius as the inner side of the rim 14 above the flange 15. The arcuate edges 32 and 33 are arranged so that the center of arcuation will be substantially midway between the fold lines 26 and 27 on the center line 29 when these flaps 24 and 25 are folded to underlie the center panel 16. As a result, these edges 32 and 33 will engage against the inner surface of the rim 14 when the sleeve or band A is in position encircling the receptacle B.

The tabs 24 and 25 are held down against the cover of the receptacle by the normal spring of the paperboard which tends to fold back toward its normal flat position as illustrated in FIGURE 4, and accordingly these tabs remain in rim engaging position. The tabs are sufficiently effective so that it is usually impossible to remove the band from the receptacle encircling position without tearing or distorting some part of the band unless a knife blade or similar tool is used to raise one of the tabs above the surface of the receptacle rim. As a result, the band will not accidentally come out of place and must be manually removed. I

In accordance with the patent statutes, I have described the principles of construction and operation of my improvement in receptacle encircling band, and while I have endeavored to set forth the best embodiment thereof, I desire to have it understood that changes may be made within the scope of the following claims without departing from the spirit of my invention.

I claim:

1. A container including, in combination,

a receptacle having a wall spaced from an end thereof to provide a recessed end,

a band of paperboard encircling said receptacle and overlying said recessed end, and

a pair of tabs foldably connected to the portion of the band overlying said recessed end and folded between said portion of said band and into said recessed end to engage the wall of said recessed end.

2. The structure of claim 1 and in which said tabs are in offset relation.

3. The structure of claim 1 and in which the edges of the tabs which engage the wall of the recessed end extend generally transversely of the length of the band.

4. A container including, in combination,

a receptacle having a recessed end wall encircled by an encircling rim,

an elongated band of paperboard transversely creased and encircling said receptacle,

a portion of said band overlying said recessed end wall,

a pair of ears hingedly secured to the longitudinal edges of said portion of said band and folded between saidband portion and said recessed end Wall, and an 4 arcuate edge on each said ear having its center of arcuation substantially coaxial with said rim and of substantially equal radius with the inner surface of said rim.

5. The structure of claim 4 and in which said ears engage opposite sides of said rim.

6. The structure of claim 4 and in which said ears are of a length substantially equal to the rim radius.

7. The structure of claim 5 and in which the ends of said ears opposite the arcuate edges are parallel and substantially intersect the transverse center line of said band portion at an acute angle to the longitudinal band edges.

8. A band adapted to encircle a receptacle having a recessed end, the band including,

a top panel adapted to overlie the recessed end of the receptacle,

side walls hingedly connected to the top panel along parallel fold lines,

a bottom panel hinged to the side walls along parallel fold lines,

a first ear foldably connected to a longitudinal edge of said top panel and foldable therebeneath,

a second car foldably connected to the opposite longitudinal edge and foldable therebeneath, and

arcuate edges on said ears, the center of arcuation substantially coinciding with the center of said top panel when said ears underlie said top panel.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,171,966 McColl Feb. 15, 1916 2,192,423 Ward Mar. 5, 1940 2,285,212 La May June 2, 1942 

1. A CONTAINER INCLUDING, IN COMBINATION, A RECEPTACLE HAVING A WALL SPACED FROM AN END THEREOF TO PROVIDE A RECESSED END, A BAND OF PAPERBOARD ENCIRCLING SAID RECEPTACLE AND OVERLYING SAID RECESSED END, AND A PAIR OF TABS FOLDABLY CONNECTED TO THE PORTION OF THE BAND OVERLYING SAID RECESSED END AND FOLDED BETWEEN SAID PORTION OF SAID BAND AND INTO SAID RECESSED END TO ENGAGE THE WALL OF SAID RECESSED END. 